Dressed in a long black dress, with bare shoulders, Parastoo Ahmadi stands among her four musicians in the subdued light of a caravanserai, in the heart of Iran, Wednesday December 11. Hair in the wind, the Iranian singer performs the symbolic title “From the blood of the youth of the homeland” (the original title is “Az Khoon e Javanan e Vatan”). The improvised concert has a taste of resistance in a country where women have to cover their hair and cannot sing alone in public since 1979. Their voices are also banned on television and radio.
“A concert for you, my dear people, in difficult conditions and under high tension, but with the love I have for you […]. I hope you enjoy the performance,” she wrote on Instagram. The concert – lasting 30 minutes – was broadcast on YouTube. The performance is an “unprecedented event in the forty-five years of the Islamic Republic”, underlines journalist Divan Shirazi in “Libération”.
Parastoo Ahmadi, 27, is not his first engagement. “I am Parastoo, the girl who cannot stay silent and refuses to stop singing for the country she loves. Listen to my voice in this imaginary concert and dream of a free and beautiful nation,” she proclaims in the introduction to the video.
Symbol of disobedience
After studying cinema, the singer made herself known by posting support songs during the 2022 demonstrations for the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement. “At the same time as her studies, she took music theory and singing lessons from the age of 14. She had started her activity as a singer unofficially,” informs Reihaneh Noveir, member of the Femme Azadi collective.
“In May 2023, she posted the song “Air de liberté”, always for the Iranians, always for the “Women, life, freedom” movement. In September, the Islamic Republic confiscated his personal and music belongings and his Instagram page was deleted,” continues Reihaneh Noveir. Parastoo Ahmadi returns to social media four months later and continues to post his songs.
The singer is now followed by nearly 485,000 people on Instagram. His concert on Wednesday has been viewed more than 800,000 times on YouTube. In a few hours, his performance became a symbol of resistance in Iran. “Parastoo is the voice of millions of Iranian women reduced to silence, who demand freedom and dignity”, testifies Elmira, music teacher in Rasht, in the northwest of the country, to “Libération”.
Arrested by the authorities
A sign of the symbol that Parastoo Ahmadi has become in Iran and throughout the world, the singer and two of her musicians were arrested on Saturday December 14. Without naming her, the Iranian justice press agency denounced on Thursday the fact that a “group led by a singer” had produced “music without respecting legal and religious rules”.
The authorities had already “taken appropriate measures, opening proceedings against the singer and the production”, specified the Mizan agency. Parastoo Ahmadi and his two singers were released during the night from Saturday to Sunday. This does not rule out a new arrest in the coming days. Parastoo Ahmadi's Instagram page cannot be found this Monday, December 16.
